Verno wrote on May 4, 2012, 12:34:We've started focus testing Windows 8 at the office here on regular users and none of can stand it for more than 10 minutes. One sales guy threw a fit even, it was kind of hilarious to watch him struggle with Metro. I have no idea what the fuck Microsoft is thinking, people are so incredibly dependent on the traditional Start Menu that I can see the potential for this to be a disaster on the scale of Windows ME.

It's the biggest UI change in nearly 20yrs, so obviously it's going to take some getting used to. People had the same reaction to the Office ribbon but it was fine when people got used to it. Don't forget that Microsoft will be including a tutorial explaining the new interface, which will take away most of the shock factor that exists at the moment.

I've been using it since the Consumer Preview - I also tried the Developer Preview but the compatibility was terrible - and although I felt completely lost for the first few days you very quickly get used to it. Personally I'm a big fan and some of the new functionality is superb (Task Manager, file transfers, Storage Spaces, Microsoft account integration, etc).

I'm very interested to see how people respond to it. I imagine it won't be long until we see a majority of computers shipping with touchscreens (laptops likely leading the way, desktops a bit behind). I imagine there will be plenty of complaints and moaning - we've already seen quite a lot - but that it will die down after a while. At least Win8 has some genuinely compelling functionality (as well as performing better and booting faster), whereas Vista really didn't. We'll likely see a Vista/7 relationship - 8 will push the new interface / design and 9 will refine it and everyone will love it.